Military Discounts for Walt Disney World: Part 1

I am a Disney fan. I like the movies but I really, really, really like the parks. In my opinion no theme park can beat Disney World for the immersion in a different world, variety of experiences, and even the food. Theme park food isn’t theme park food when you are talking about Disney.

(Yes, I like Universal Studios too. I just like Disney more)

But even a huge Disney parks fan like me can admit it – vacationing at Disney is expensive! I typically go to Disney World once every three years or so, and I have to plan for it in ways I don’t have to plan for most other vacations. A week at Disney can easily cost twice what a vacation almost anywhere else would cost.

But! Disney supports the U.S. military in many ways, and one of those ways is through some truly great military discounts. So today, I thought I’d take a break from the chain of “these are your pay and benefits” posts and write something a little more fun.

In Part 1 I’m going to cover some of the military discounts available. You probably know about some of them, while others you may not. In Part 2 I’ll add in a few more discounts. Then I’ll break down the savings with military discounts versus some of Disney’s most popular and money-saving packages. Part 2 will also include a run-down of my own experiences so you can see how much you can potentially save with military discounts. I’m also taking another trip there later this year, and I’ll do a more thorough breakdown of costs when that happens.

Please note I’m only talking about Walt Disney World here, not Disneyland or the overseas locations. I’ll have to save those for future posts. Also – for any of the discounts, please double check that you qualify. Different discounts have different rules.

Military Discounts on Tickets

Some of the most well-known Disney military discounts are the ticket prices. You can buy military discount Disney World tickets from your base Tickets & Tours/Morale, Welfare, and Recreation office. You can also buy them once you arrive at Disney World at the Shades of Green Resort (more on that soon) or from any Disney ticket booth.

I prefer to buy tickets in advance if I can, as it would otherwise take up valuable vacation time. In the past when I’ve bought them after arriving at Disney World, it’s taken up to an hour to compete the process. That’s because you have to wait in line, prove you are military, plus get each guest’s identity associated with the ticket, and then get everything activated. If you buy ahead of time you will still have to activate the tickets at the park, but it should take far less time.

Regular Military Discount Tickets

Disney has teamed up with military ticket offices for years to offer their Magic Your Way tickets at a small discount to military personnel. The savings aren’t huge, but at Disney every dollar counts. For instance, a normal Magic Your Way 5-day Park Hopper ticket is $445 for adults, $425 for children. The military discount version is $436.50 for adults, $417 for children. Like I said, not huge savings, but it’s something.

Military Salute Tickets

For an even better deal, get the Disney Military Salute Tickets…aka the Armed Forces Salute…aka the Military Promotional ticket. This is the ticket that makes the biggest difference in making Disney affordable for military families. I absolutely love it. It is limited to 4-day and 5-day versions, though, so it’s not for everyone. But it’s almost always worth it if you know how to use them.

That 5-day Park Hopper ticket from above? Instead of costing you $445/adult, or even $436.50/adult, what if I told you it was only $224/adult? Quite a difference!

In fact, you can even double up on the Military Salute tickets if you want to. So if you are going for ten days, just buy yourself two Military Salute tickets for $448 instead of one 10-day ticket for $515. Smart, right?

The catch is that each military member, or their spouse if the spouse is not military, is limited to buying 6 Military Salute tickets each year. If you have multiple people in your family, you’ll want to do some research to figure out which ticket purchases are best. If two or more members of your party qualify for the tickets, though, go crazy!

Military Discounts on Lodging

One of, if not the, biggest expenses on a Disney vacation is going to be your lodging. If you are staying on the Disney World property, even a cheap room can get expensive. The equivalent of a motel room is often over $100 per night. And don’t get me started on the Deluxe resorts. $500 per night rooms are “good” rates in the Deluxe resorts – if you want suites or Club-level rooms you might be looking at over $1000 per night.

Military Salute Resort Discounts

Luckily, the military discount for the resorts is pretty generous. As part of the Military Salute promotion, military members can get up to three rooms at a heavily discounted rate. We get 30% off Value resorts, 35% off Moderates and the Fort Wilderness Cabins, and 40% off Deluxe resorts.

The amount of rooms that qualify for the Military Salute rates is limited, so if you plan to use it make sure you call quickly! I waited too long for my upcoming trip, so there isn’t currently a discount available. But at those levels of percentages off, you’d better believe I’m calling every week to see if anything has opened up!

With this discount, you have to call to Disney to make the reservation. You cannot book a military discount room online. Annoying, I know, especially when you call and hear that “they are experiencing a higher than normal call volume” and would you mind waiting 40 minutes to be helped? But I try to remember that I’ll be saving hundreds of dollars, grit my teeth, and get through it. It’s worth it!

Shades of Green

Another option is to stay at Shades of Green. This is an Armed Forces Recreation Center Resort on Disney property. You don’t get all of the same benefits as if you were staying at a Disney property, but Shades of Green has some pretty great benefits of their own.

The first, of course, is the rooms…and their prices. For the same price as one of the Value resorts during an expensive season, you can get a Shades of Green room which is much larger, much nicer, and very conveniently located. They even have large suites which can fit up to 10 guests. I’ve never stayed at Shades of Green but I’ve toured the property and it’s pretty nice. Regular rooms are $109-$149 per night, based on your rank. That’s for FY2017 – prices go up in October.

Additionally, Shades of Green has a small AAFES store with some…shall we say…non-Disney prices? You can buy Disney and Orlando souvenirs there, as well as some basic food items to keep in your room. And of course, if you are going to be buying tickets, the Shades of Green ticket office is the place to go. I generally end up at Shades of Green on every trip, despite never having actually stayed there.

One thing to note is that the beds at Shades of Green are queen sized, while at some Disney resorts (mostly the Values) they are full/double sized. If the thought of sleeping with your spouse or child in a double sized bed sounds awful, Shades of Green is a great option without much extra cost.

Armed Forces Vacation Club

A third option for lower priced lodging for your Disney World vacation is the Armed Forces Vacation Club. I’ve never utilized AFVC, however I have stayed at one of the resorts they partner with near Disney World. This is almost definitely going to be your best bet for balancing cost, roominess, and luxury in a hotel room. However, by staying off property you give up a lot of the Disney extras such as free transportation and Extra Magic Hours at the parks. Whether or not the savings is worth it to you is totally up to you.

I’ve stayed both on and off property at Disney World, and there are significant advantages to both styles. For instance, at an AFVC property you are likely going to have a kitchen in your room. Plus, you will almost definitely be renting (or bringing) a car. That means you can save a lot of money by stopping at a grocery store and eating some of your meals in your room. Or, you could go to off-property restaurants, which will still save you money over eating everything at Disney. But…Disney does have good food. So it’s 6 of 1, half a dozen of another in my book.

Disney Springs Discounts

If you are familiar with the Disney World property, you know there is a non-ticketed, non-Disney Park area known as Disney Springs. This area was formerly known as Downtown Disney, and before that as Disney Village Marketplace and a couple other names.

Disney Springs is a shopping and restaurant area. There are no attractions the way you normally think of Disney attractions, but there are several activities beyond the stores. The Fork & Screen AMC movie theater at one end offers comfortable seats, good air conditioning during Florida summers – and food delivered to your seat! The food is actually pretty decent and the experience is quite fun. There are also various musical performances going on throughout Disney Springs every day. There’s even a bowling alley that’s supposed to be pretty nice (I’ve never been).

Some of the stores and restaurants in Disney Springs offer a military discount. In fact, at some of the places it’s a hefty 20% or 25% off! All you have to do is ask.

Not all of the workers at these locations are familiar with the military discount, so what I like to do is print off the most current list from Military Disney Tips before I leave on vacation. On the two occasions where the employee wasn’t familiar with the discount, showing them that list was enough. YMMV.

Part 2

Boy, this got long quickly. Head over to Part 2 where I’m going to cover a few more discounts. Then, I’ll start digging into whether all of the military discounts together can beat some of the more popular Disney vacation packages. Plus, I’ll give you some insights into how I’ve used the military discounts to save money at Disney World. Stay tuned!

Have you taken advantage of any of these discounts? Know of more? Leave a comment telling us about your experience!